Sloop Speedwell 1752 by Stuntflyer (Mike) - Ketch Rigged Sloop - POF

[Rustyj]

I can't say anything more than fantastic work. 

[FrankWouts]

Again a masterpiece in the making by your hand Mike...
Following your educational text and photo's again with great interest!
Frank.

[davyboy]

Very nice Job on the square tuck fashion pieces Mike,not the easiest items to make. I wasn't happy with my first (stbd) one,binned it and had no problem with them after,a lesson learned  I'll bet yours are just as good as the computer generated laser cut versions with the added satisfaction that you made them yourself.

 

Dave 

[allanyed]

15 hours ago, Stuntflyer said:

I wanted to give this a try at least once before making use of the laser cut versions.

Great idea and really great execution.

Allan

[scrubbyj427]

Lovely work Mike. Looks really nice.

 

JJ

[Chuck]

Looking great Mike....Just remember that the lower edge of counter is flush with the square tuck after planking.

 

Chuck

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks guys! Your kind words are very much appreciated, as always. I'm looking forward to getting those first planks on the ship. Something different!

 

Chuck, thanks for the heads up. I added the first counter planks and there was no issue getting the lower edge of counter flush with the square tuck

 

Mike

Edited January 17 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

Lower counter

I gave a lot of thought towards doing the lower counter in AYC. Unfortunately, I didn't have any sheets on the shelf. I know it all seems pretty straight forward, just a simple planking job. That wasn't the case at least for me. It would have been easier to do this in AYC being that the wood is much more flexible than boxwood when doing this kind of work.

 

After the planks were in I faired a nice rounding into the wood with some miniature scrapers. https://www.amazon.com/Lynx-Mini-Scraper-Set-4pc/dp/B00ICISC2U There were a few areas where the cedar quarter panel was slightly over faired (rounded off) on the lower edge which I compensated for when I faired the outer edge of the lower counter. 

Mike

Edited January 21 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Perfect…You are catching up to me quickly.

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks, Chuck! I think it's going to be a while before I'm anywhere near where you're at. I still haven't finished up fairing the hull. Now that the fairing cap is on I will work on getting that done. After that I want to start painting the ports. Are there any other options that would work nicely with the friezes other than crimson red?

Edited January 21 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

You can leave them bright but other than that...bulwark red is the only choice for me...as shown on the contemporary model.

[Stuntflyer]

Hull planking (prep)

One of the things I've been wanting to do was to see whether or not I could get away without having to spile the hull planks from 3/64" sheet. I was hoping that I could just edge bend boxwood planks to match a spiled shape. With that in mind I ran a test to see if indeed it could be done.

 

The sequence is a little off since I thought of taking the photos after some of the steps were completed. I retraced the steps as best I could. For better viewing I have focused in on a smaller area of the hull.

 

The first thing I did was to attach the hull template to my hull. I ran some 1/4" striping tape along the lower edge of the template and then back masked the upper edge of the tape. After that the original layer of tape was removed. You can see a bit of the back masking at the stem. I could have just drawn a line along the bottom of the template instead of using tape. Being a test of only one plank, I didn't want to do that. Hey, that's just me complicating things.

Here is the back masking (original taping removed) where the lower edge will line up with the upper edge of the plank.

 

I traced the lower edge of the tape (the shape for the upper edge of the plank). This gives me the shape needed for spiling or hopefully just some edge bending. You should be able to see the pencil marks across each frame.

The resulting shape resembles a gentle "S" curve. Something like this.

I was able to edge bend the boxwood to match the spiled shape without any difficulty. Clamping the test plank to the hull was done without having to do any twisting or bending. Mission accomplished!

Mike

Edited January 29 by Stuntflyer

[druxey]

That's the way to do it without torturing either the plank or yourself.

[Stuntflyer]

Hull planking

Fairing the outer hull was fairly straight forward. There is plenty of extra meat on the frames which gave me lots of wiggle room. The fairing cap edge should remain untouched, if at all possible. Easier said than done! Final sanding was done with 400 grit. Btw; I totally forgot to take some photos of the outer hull after the fairing was completed. Sorry!

 

Once everything looked good I added the first strake (the upper wale). This was done with three planks. I did my best to eyeball the run as I added each plank and not to strictly rely on the drawn line which I made from Chuck's hull template.

From there on it was just a matter of adding the two remaining wale strakes and a few more strakes above the upper wale. I also added the small filler piece which goes between the lower wale and the square tuck.

With the added support given by these strakes, I decided to fair the inner hull. This ended up being more time consuming than I thought it would be. It took me several days to complete the work. Working the bow timbers, even with a Dremel or 80 grit, was slow. Once I was close I switched to a miniature curved scraper to smooth out the work.

 

You can see just how thick the wood was in places.

When fairing the area around the lower gun port sills, I found that a simple depth gauge came in handy. Including the 3/64" outer hull planking, the width of the sill should be 3/16” or maybe a hair less. I made this simple “T” shaped jig that I could place against the frames and then mark the width of the sill from inside the hull.

Ready for the keelson

Mike

Edited May 19 by Stuntflyer

[Rustyj]

Beautiful work Mike!

[Chuck]

Really nice progress Mike.   The framing looks fantastic inboard and outboard.

[Stuntflyer]

Rusty, Chuck, Thank you!

 

Keelson

I've been working on the keelson for a while. A little bit here a little bit there while fairing the frames. I went with boxwood as usual and milled scarph joints. I used 30lb (.023) black mono for the bolts. I noticed that the keelson would slip and slide a bit on the frames so I pinned it in two locations. This enabled me to center it port and starboard while saving a lot of eyeballing when gluing it down. 

Mike

Edited March 11 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

Fixed blocks

This weekend seemed to be a good time to get started on the fixed blocks. Six are on the ship with the two really small ones near the transom completed, but off the ship. I'm not sure if I will add them before or after planking that area. I decided to scratch them, using the mill to make the slot between the two holes.

 

When I originally drew in the upper wale location with the hull template, I also marked the location of the blocks. I could have gone with that and it would have been fine. However, since I started the build I've tried to measure off the plan sheet whenever possible. So, here again, that's what I did. I only needed to measure and drill the position of one of the two hole locations for each block. Then it was just a matter of establishing the distance for the second hole while aligning the top of the block parallel to the shear.

 

Here is how I made the tiny rounded shape representing the sheave. It's only .020" deep.

Mike

Edited March 18 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

Limber strakes

I guess these strakes are for the most part hidden. Still, having never made them before I decided to give these a try. I used the plan drawings as usual for the templates. Rather than shape them exactly to the template, I left some wiggle room in case adjustments where needed. The rabbet on the inside edge was cut with a simple scraper made from a hacksaw blade.

 

After adding the center section, I proceeded to add the fore and aft sections while trying to maintain as smooth a run along the outer edge of the strakes as possible. Both the aft and fore sections have a twist which needs to be taken into account one way or another. I was able to twist the aft section with wet heat and hold it in position while the slow drying CA set. I couldn't get enough twist in the fore section. If these were made from AYC rather than boxwood, it wouldn't have been a problem. Rather than torture myself, I went with some very expensive and exotic tools in order to give me a helping hand.

Mike

Edited March 21 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Looks great Mike.

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks, Chuck!

[Stuntflyer]

Mast steps

Over the weekend I completed the two mast steps. The location of these is very important and the plans really helped me out here.

 

Mizzen step: The first thing I did was to tack glue the three sections together with a spot or two of school glue. Then I milled the notch which goes over the keelson. After breaking the pieces apart, I milled the notch into the top of the middle piece and glued the aft and middle sections together permanently. Next, I angled the bottom edge about 5° to account for the upward sweep of the keelson. I worked the two sections until everything was sitting flush with the limber strakes and keelson. The fore section was then positioned over the keelson, against the first two pieces, and shaped accordingly.

 

You might be asking, why didn't I  just glue all three pieces together from the start? It wasn't long before I realized that the shape of the fore and aft pieces were not Identical. The aft piece had a slightly different angle at the foot than the fore piece. This is due to the twist in the limber strake, I think. Doing this in stages allowed me to get each piece angled correctly without the hassle of trying to work the whole piece at once.

 

According to the plan, the center of the mizzen step sits .151" (approx 5/32") in front of the aft edge of frame 11F. I glued the step into position using a cross piece and shim to account for that distance. This also helped to get the step perpendicular to the keel.

Main step: This was made basically the same way as the mizzen step. It sits over frame Ba. Unlike the mizzen step, I didn't need to taper the foot. The distance between the centers of the two steps is approx 9-5/32".

For the pins I turned down a 1/16" dowel using the Dremel tool. They are press fitted without the need for glue.

I've had so much fun making these that I almost forgot that I need to finish up the outer hull planking.😏

 

Mike

Edited March 25 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

So nice Mike...getting to the fun bits now.

 

Chuck

[AnobiumPunctatum]

This is looking really really good.

[sfotinos]

Mike,

 

Just a quick question, do you plan on treenailing your frames?

Shawn

[Stuntflyer]

Maybe! I have to see what the run of the frame joints look like. If the run is irregular that would not look so good. I would think that the laser kit builders would be in good shape regarding this. At some point I will get to checking out the run on my build. Right now I'm still working on the planks which go around the sweep ports.

 

Mike

[Michel Bénard]

The art and the manner, bravo.

[Stuntflyer]

Hull Planking, cont. .

It seems like forever since my last post. I had some personal matters to attend to amongst a few other things. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting things back up to speed.

 

I'm working on a tricky part of the hull planking, those cutouts around the gun ports and sweep port lids. I really had to take my time here in order to avoid re-dos. The reveal around the gun ports is somewhere between 1/64"-1/32". A pillar file comes in really handy. It only cuts on one edge thus allowing for clean corner cuts. https://contenti.com/grobet-extra-narrow-pillar-files I use either a "0" and "2" cut.

 

I haven't done any sanding on the planking and as you can see it's a bit of a mess. The red color is Winsor & Newton "Crimson". In the past I would add a bit of Burnt Umber in order to darken the color. The two colors would often separate which I found to be a pain, so I decided to keep it simple this time around.

Mike

Edited May 22 by Stuntflyer

[Rustyj]

That's some wonderful planking. So clean and tight!

[Freebird]

Very, very nice Mike!

 

Best Regards .... Rick